Based on primary interviews conducted with women involved in the Kachin armed resistance, this paper will explore the participation of women in the armed conflict in Burma/Myanmar, highlighting how Kachin women’s reasons for supporting ethno-political organizations include (individual or collective) experiences of insecurity, oppression, poverty and gender-based violence, as well as nationalism. Initial research seems to suggest that women’s participation in or support for armed struggle stems from ideological and political reasons that are closely related to socioeconomic marginalisation and discrimination. There is thus a substantial, and important, connection between material conditions, women’s insecurity and political violence that needs to be unpacked.